Thawed Hearts
by RAMSPEL
Summary: Kristoff asks Elsa for Anna's hand in marriage. A one-shot.


_Author's Note: I have been obsessed with Frozen ever since I first saw the movie. Since I cannot get those amazing characters out of my mind, I thought I would try writing about them. I know my version of them will probably pale in comparison to the movie, but I tried to capture their essence as best I could. I hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer: Just like everyone else on this site, I do not own anything._

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Queen Elsa was facing a long night ahead of her. In the last year since her coronation, Arendelle's trade had increased significantly (despite the kingdom severing ties with Weselton). It helped that, thanks to the queen's abilities, cargo like fruit and other perishables could be cooled before their ships set sail. Now with all of the new trade, Arendelle's tax policy needed to be updated. _It is necessary work,_ Elsa reminded herself. However, it was also dull and time-consuming.

The queen was reading over a large stack of papers containing Arendelle's old tax policy when a knock at the door broke her concentration. Kai entered the room and informed her that she had a visitor.

"Pardon the interruption Your Majesty, but the Ice Master and Deliverer requests a word with you."

_I should have never let Anna come up with that title,_ Elsa said to herself.

"Shall I tell the young man that it is after hours and that he will have to come back tomorrow?"

Elsa was tempted to say yes. She had too much to do and did not want to be interrupted, but she refrained. Kristoff meant a lot to her sister and she did not want to risk offending him. Plus, he had saved both her and Anna's lives in the past; the least she could do was give him a few minutes of her time.

"No, no. He's already here. Just send him in." She told Kai.

Since Elsa had gotten involved with the ice business, Kristoff's business had been booming. Of course, now he and his fellow ice harvesters focused more on the delivery aspect of the industry rather than the harvesting part. Thanks to Elsa's involvement, she and Kristoff had developed a close working relationship and friendship. She thought highly of the young man, which was fortunate for him now that he was courting her little sister.

Elsa just hoped Anna heeded her advice to take things slow and not to rush into anything. Her sister could be rather impulsive at times. Also, it did not help matters that Kristoff's troll family tried to marry the couple every time they went to visit. Fortunately, Kristoff agreed with Elsa and wanted the relationship to take time to grow and thrive.

As Kristoff entered the room the queen noticed he looked nervous about something. He would not meet the queen's eyes and he shuffled around on his feet as he stood before her.

"Good evening Kristoff. How may I help you?"

"Good evening to you as well, Your Majesty. It is a nice pleasant night. There is a nice cool breeze in the air…not that Your Majesty had anything to do with that. It is simply a cold spell coming in. Of course, if Your Majesty did cause the breeze I am sure people are grateful. It has been rather warm lately."

Elsa sighed to herself. She had a lot of work to do and she did not have time to listen to anyone babble on. She wondered if he had picked up the habit from Anna. To keep from wasting time she began organizing the papers on her desk.

"Kristoff, please do not think I am being rude, but I have a lot of reading to do tonight. If we could just move on to what you wanted to discuss with me. I assume you are not here to talk about the weather."

"Right. My apologies for wasting your time and thank you for seeing me after hours. I….I was hoping to talk to you about Anna."

At the mention of her sister's name, Elsa's head shot up from the papers. She pushed the stack aside. The tax policy could wait. "What about my sister?" she asked sharply.

Kristoff took a deep breath before continuing. "Well this is normally the kind of thing one asks a girl's father, but…you are the only family Anna has left. I would like to request your sister's hand in marriage.

"Marriage?" Elsa repeated. "Does Anna know you are asking me this?"

"No Your Majesty. I thought it only best to ask for her hand first, especially…."

_Especially after how I acted the last time Anna wanted to get married._ Elsa knew the end of the sentence that Kristoff was too scared to finish. But the circumstances were different then. Neither she nor Anna really knew Hans. How could they? Both of them had only met the man a few hours earlier. And Elsa had turned out to be right not to give her blessing in that case. With Kristoff it was different. It was clear to anyone who saw the two together that they cared deeply for each other. Also, they seemed to work well together as a couple.

Anna had certainly paid no attention to the dozens of suitors that had visited over the last year. With Arendelle's trade doing so well, many of its neighboring countries sought to strengthen their relationship through marriage. As a princess, Anna was expected to marry royalty or at least someone of noble birth. Kristoff was neither of those things, not that that mattered to Anna. And Elsa was not about to force her sister in a loveless union just to satisfy tradition.

Still, Anna was only nineteen. She had not even come of age yet. And she had her whole life to get married. There was no reason to rush into anything. However, plenty of other girls got married at her age. Besides no matter how old Anna was, Elsa would always see her as her baby sister. And Kristoff did make her happy.

As she mulled over all of this in her mind, Kristoff looked like he was about to vomit while he anxiously awaited her answer. Finally, she came to a decision.

"I know that you are a good man and that you truly love Anna. If she says yes," _Not that there is a chance that she'll say no._ "then you have my blessing."

"Thank you! And rest assured, I will be good to her and will take care of her."

"That is good to know," Elsa replied. Then with a sweep of her hand, she surrounded Kristoff with ice spikes sharper than daggers. As she continued speaking, one ice spike continued to grow until it was inches from Kristoff's throat. "because if you _ever_ hurt my little sister, you will have me to deal with."

Kristoff's face drained of color. He had no doubt the Snow Queen meant her threat. Then a grin spread across his face. "I would not have it any other way, Your Majesty. Anna is very blessed to have a sister as loving and as protective as you. I look forward for the chance to become your brother-in-law."

Tears welled up in Elsa's eyes, which she tried her best to hide. She was less successful at concealing the snowflakes that started falling. Kristoff politely ignored the wintery precipitation. With a wave of her hand, she sent them along with the ice spikes out the window where they quickly melted in the warm summer air. Elsa loved Anna more than anything. And she had always done everything in her power to protect her (even when she was trying to protect her sister from her powers). But she had never thought of her presence in Anna's life as a blessing, not when she had caused her so much pain over the years. Her efforts to protect her sister had nearly got her killed and had made her feel unloved for thirteen years. Hearing someone tell her that Anna was blessed to have her as a sister was more than she could handle.

"Thank you." She managed to choke out. She wanted to tell Kristoff that Anna was fortunate to have him in her life as well and that she was looking forward to having him as a brother-in-law as well, but she knew if she tried to say anything else she would break down before she got half a sentence out.

Kristoff must have sensed that Elsa wanted to be alone. "Well I will not keep you. I know you have a lot to do. Good night, Your Majesty."

"Perhaps, you should start calling me Elsa." She half whispered.

"Good night…Elsa." Kristoff smiled as he awkwardly tried out her name.

As soon as the door closed, Elsa unleashed the storm inside of her. The room filled with snow the way it had been many times before. However, this time it was caused not by the Snow Queen's fear and anguish, but by her joy.

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_Author's note: Thanks for reading. I would love your feedback and reviews. _


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